There was high drama and tears of joy as the Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) “A” team overcame Boland 33-32 in Saturday's final of the Spar National Netball Championships at the NMMU Sport Centre, Port Elizabeth. This close victory ensured that all 3 NMB teams won their respective sections. The 3 NMB teams featured 15 players who have been or are currently on the ECAS support programmes.

Most paddling fans will be well-acquainted with the achievements of the Louw brothers. After a successful 2008 campaign in local races -  in 2009, Greg and Ryan Louw have shifted their attention to the international paddling scene and are currently competing in events in Europe and North America.

ECAS athlete Jon-Paul Raper was named the “SA Modern Pentathlon Athlete of the Year” at the South African Modern Pentathlon Gala Awards Evening in East London recently. Modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of a 200m freestyle swim, fencing, show jumping and finally shooting while running a 3km cross country course.

Apelele Rasmeni, an ECAS athlete based in East London, has been included in the South African team which will compete at the CAA African Junior Championships that will be held in Mauritius (30 July - 2 August 2009). Apelele, a triple jump athlete, performed consistently in the Yellow Pages Series and has competed in several junior international events.

ECAS congratulates captain Mandisa Williams (pictured), Thami Faleni, Fundiswa Plaatjie, Lamla Momoti and Namhla Siyolo have been selected to represent the SA women's rugby squad at the Nations Cup in Canada. After a vigorous selection process, these 5 ECAS athletes will be on Springbok duty against hosts Canada, England, the United States and France from 10-22 August 2009.

In a development which establishes him as one of the best wheelchair tennis players in the country, ECAS athelete Marshall Marsh will be part of the South African wheelchair tennis team which will compete at the Invacare World Team Cup (IWTC). The 2009 IWTC will be held in Nottingham, England from 27 July - 2 August. Marshall, who started the year ranked 4th nationally, will be competing at this prestigious international event for the first time.

"Events such as the World Student Games are important because they allow us to compete against other athletes of a high standard". This was the view of ECAS athlete Keri Plumstead  upon her return from Belgrade, Serbia where she competed in the 2009 World Student Games (1-12 July 2009). The SA team finished 23rd on the medal table out of 145 nations and more than doubled the number of medals that they won during the 2007 edition.

NMMU centre Mampho Tsotetsi was selected for the USSA Netball national team at the 2009 USSA Championships held recently in Johannesburg. Although it was a disappointing tournament for NMMU, Mampho and Nontle Gwavu stood out and were selected for the national varsity team. Mampho, an ECAS athlete, has previously represented a national student team as she was part of the 2006 SASSU team which won the gold medal at the FASU African Championships.

ECAS athlete Conrad Viljoen secured a fourth place finish at the drama-filled USSA Cycling Championships held at NMMU, Port Elizabeth (28 June – 1 July 2009).

Finishing in the top 6 meant that Conrad was automatically selected for the USSA national cycling team. The USSA Cycling Championships featured 12 universities and 52 male cyclists.